Free Republic

The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.” George Orwell Dear Friends, This is my quarterly request for donations. As you know, this is your site. It will stay up as long as you support it. The ruling oligarchy and their presstitute media have become desperate now that they are losing control over explanations and Americans’ minds. Thus, they charge independent Internet journalists such as myself with being Russian agents peddling fake news. Recent legislation in the House of Representatives, the list of 200 alleged Russian agents, and the attacks on...

In mid-November, some of the wealthiest liberals and most important left-leaning interest groups in the country came to Washington, DC to talk strategy. They came to attend the meeting of the Democracy Alliance — the closest thing that exists to a "left-wing conspiracy" in the US. The Alliance was founded a decade ago, after progressive donors became convinced they needed to more aggressively fund and build liberal institutions to match conservative ones. Since then, the Alliance has steered hundreds of millions of dollars to certain progressive groups. But it's faced some criticism for its secrecy and lack of transparency, and...

House Republicans appear to be trying to make it harder for rank-and-file revolts, like the one which caused John Boehner to step down last year, from happening again. California Congressman Devin Nunes told Roll Call, his proposal would keep leadership vacuums from happening. The proposed change, offered by Rep. Devin Nunes, would end the privileged status of the motion to vacate that allows any member to call up the motion for a vote at any time. The California Republican is proposing that instead the majority or minority caucus must vote on the motion and that a majority of the caucus...

OUR SILICON VALLEY ROBBER BARONS08.10.16 11:00 PM ET Today’s Tech Oligarchs Are Worse Than the Robber Barons Yes, Jay Gould was a bad guy. But at least he helped build societal wealth. Not so our Silicon Valley overlords. And they have our politicians in their pockets. A decade ago these guys—and they are mostly guys—were folk heroes, and for many people, they remain so. They represented everything traditional business, from Wall Street and Hollywood to the auto industry, in their pursuit of sure profits and golden parachutes, was not—hip, daring, risk-taking folk seeking to change the world for the better....

Without an understanding of the increasingly centralized, global ownership of media outlets, it's hard to grasp the incredible power and influence of the half dozen companies who own the media.  If this is news to you, you have some catching up to do.  Search the internet for "who owns the media", and see what you find.  Both my late dad and I have written about this periodically over the last many years. It is a known fact within the journalism trade that reporters cover stories their editors tell them to, and are steered away (and sometimes prevented) from reporting stories...

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/04/why-democrats-are-becoming-the-party-of-the-1-percent

I first want to make it very clear, that I admire rich people, and do not believe in class warfare. But I distinguish between two types of rich people. The first is those who made it on their own, without bribing (through lobbyists, etc) to get inflated government contracts. The second is those who got rich through family connections and inflated government contracts (remember those DoD toilet seats worth $400). I admire the former, because they keep the American economy going. I do not admire the latter, because they steal the wealth of the middle-class. Oligarchs are those rich people...

People are desperate for leaders and heroes. This is an undeniable condition of human life and of human civilization. Some historians and social observers, however, seem to think it is enough to simply point out this condition and pretend as if they have made some grand declaration; as if they have come to the root of the problem of mankind. In their laziness, they have mistaken a symptom for the cause. Why do people so often demand leaders and heroic figures? What drives the institutionalization of hierarchy, celebrity and geopolitical idolization? I believe this condition is caused by three factors...

RUSH: Well, there's no way to spin this, folks. It's just a disaster. I think many of us are witnessing now the complete corruption of Washington, DC, meaning the objective has been to corrupt the government and success appears to be, at this moment in time, in hand. As it was pointed out to me earlier today, the left has the government that they've always wanted. We have an authoritarian megalomaniac ruling like a monarch. The opposition bends over and, according to the high court, the Supreme Court, words, laws, really have no meaning. It's whatever the popular interpretation of...

Having already proven that their institutions are above the law in the aftermath of the financial crisis, executives at the “Too Big to Fail and Jail” banks have decided it’s time to teach Senate Democrats a lesson. Not being content with trillions in taxpayer backed bailouts to protect and further consolidate virtually all wealth within their oligarch fiefdoms, these bankers are irate at the notion that a commoner would dare criticize their unassailable crony privilege. However, the worst part of this story, is that while Warren is harsher than most of her completely bought and paid for colleagues, she is...

What started off as a corporate dispute is swiftly turning into a battle between the state and a billionaire regional governor who was once credited for curbing separatism in his region. The standoff between Kyiv's authorities and Dnipropetrovsk Governor Igor Kolomoisky is making a farce of the gains of the revolution a year ago that ousted the former corrupt president and his cronies, and is aiding the Russian cause of destabilization of the nation. On March 23, accusations of involvement with organized crime became the latest twist in the oligarch saga. Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of Ukraine’s Security Service loyal to...

GOP power broker Haley Barbour’s lobby shop, BGR Group, represents a Russian bank that has financed a company that helped build Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, according to corporate documents and lobbying disclosure records. The bank is owned by a secretive oligarch, Mikhail Fridman, who has met at least twice with White House officials in the last few years, according to visitor logs.

For a woman with billions in the bank, 37-year-old Kamaliya Zahoor is surprisingly fond of a bargain. 'I spent £1,000 in Poundland once,' she chirps. 'It was fun!' Kamaliya, a popstar and mother-of-two, is the chatelaine of no fewer than 10 homes and spends her days flitting from shops to recording studio and back again. Married to billionaire British businessman, Mohammed, her world is one that could be justifiably described as gilded, with yachts, private planes and £60,000 shopping sprees all part of the deal.

The hedge fund founded and, until recently, run by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer was involved in a deal to sell a stake in a Russian oil company to a Russian oligarch who is the target of U.S. sanctions. Farallon Capital Management sold a part of its stake in Russian firm Geotech Oil Services to the Volga Group, a Luxembourg-based investment firm owned by Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko, in 2010. Four years later, in April 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would target Timchenko, Volga, and a number of companies associated with them, in a round of sanctions aimed...

The Mail says Young was particularly paranoid about enquiries on his wealth. He had stated that the hunt for the money was driving him crazy, and he had even demanded to be confined for treatment under the Mental Health Act. Although Young's friends have claimed that he would have never committed suicide, Scotland Yard is under pressure to open an inquiry after The Telegraph revealed that four of his friends and business associates have also died in mysterious circumstances in the last four years. The group included the exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was found hanging in his Surrey house...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has devised a way to keep Russian elites from turning on him, according to reports from September 30. Why would Russia’s leading tycoons turn against Putin? Because their industries have suffered, and their assets have been seized as a result of sanctions the West levied on them after Putin annexed Crimea and destabilized eastern Ukraine. In fact, the main purpose of the Western sanctions was to squeeze elite Russians, hoping to turn them against Putin and bring about regime change. But on September 30, the lower house of parliament passed a law allowing Russian oligarchs whose...

Billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko says he would not let rebel-held east Ukraine become another Somalia as he prepared to take over the presidency with a clear signal from Moscow that it is ready to work with his government. Poroshenko has moved swiftly to stamp his authority as Ukraine's new leader after claiming victory in Sunday's presidential election, with partial results showing he trounced his rivals in the first round. He said Ukraine would press on with an offensive to crush the pro-Russian separatists waging an insurgency in the eastern industrial belt, despite Moscow warning it would be a "colossal mistake"....

A vast country estate, marble-lined mansions, a private golf course and zoo: the unimaginable luxury of the private residence of departed Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych flung open for all to see. As parliament voted to oust Yanukovych Saturday and he fled to a pro-Russian bastion in east Ukraine after months of bloody protest again his rule, thousands of Ukrainians wondered awestruck around the breathtaking luxury of his abandoned property some 110 miles from Kiev after it was taken by demonstrators. "I am in shock," said retired military servicewoman Natalia Rudented, as she looked out over the manicured lawns studded with...

As crisis-ridden Cyprus proceeds with a bank restructuring program that will take as much as 40 percent from large account holders, most of whom are Russian, the Kremlin has made an about-face and supported the plan. Commentators wondered how Russia could go along with a restructuring that would cost its citizens an estimated four to six billion euros. The reason may be simple: The biggest Russian account holders already have gotten most of their money out of this island tax haven through a gaping loophole, according to some reports. .... After some initial bluster, the Russian government has supported the...

When the air-conditioning broke down at the reception for the unveiling ceremony of the Red Army monument in Netanya on Monday, it didn’t matter if you were a billionaire, multimillionaire or broke. Everyone suffered the same. In one corner sat Mikhail Fridman, the seventh-richest man in Russia, whose fortune is estimated at $15 billion by Forbes. He stayed hydrated in the sweltering heat by sipping a glass of water. In another stood Moshe Kantor, the chemicals tycoon who Forbes said was worth $2.3b. He repeatedly removed the beads of sweat from his head with a napkin. The two men were...